A LASER treatment eye surgeon accused of botching two operations said all his actions had been well thought-out and explained.

Anurpam Chatterjee, who faces charges of serious professional misconduct, was giving evidence at a General Medical Council hearing.

Solicitor Paul Burton and IT specialist Robert Gregory maintain the laser eye-correction surgery left them with a string of vision problems.

Mr Burton, 39, of Frodsham, Cheshire, told the Manchester hearing the complications he suffered left him "constantly depressed" and seeing ghost images.

And Mr Gregory, 54, of Nantwich, Cheshire, said the procedure also left him with bad "ghosting" in his vision and a very bad ache in his right eye.

They both claim the risks were not explained to them fully by Mr Chatterjee or the staff of the Chester branch of the Ultralase clinic, and that they were not examined properly before surgery.

Mr Chatterjee, of Hale, Altrincham, faces six charges in front of the GMC - a number of which he denies.

The surgeon, who has also worked for the NHS at the Royal Manchester Eye Hospital and at Stepping Hill in Stockport, told the panel it was standard practice to give as much information as possible to patients from the moment they were contacted.

Information

"The consenting procedure starts from the beginning of the inquiry when a patient receives information, and this is then followed by further information in the patient information leaflet," he said.

"Then there's information provided by the optometrist carrying out the initial consultation and then further counselling carried out by the nurse.

"Then finally a check over is repeated by myself on the day of surgery, together with the consent form that they've just read.

"They are given as much time as they want for this - nobody is dragged out of the waiting room and taken in for treatment."

And he said before the operation he always went over the common risks - which included still needing glasses after surgery and having problems with night vision, such as ghosting, glare and night driving.

GMC expert witness William Jory had previously told the hearing that treating both a patient's eyes on the same day, as both these men were, was unacceptable.

But Mr Chatterjee, who has had his own sight corrected by laser treatment, said this type of treatment was widespread and backed up by several scientific papers declaring it safe.

He also pointed out that it gave many advantages of "convenience".

Mr Burton had also claimed the clinic should have identified that his pupils were too large for the treatment.

But Mr Chatterjee said at the time of the surgery, in spring 2000, there was no evidence to suggest this was an issue, even though it had been advanced as a problem since.